Wesleyan's Top 20 Albums of 2023
It’s the end of the Fucking year! As is tradition every year at this student-run potentially-last-of-its-kind music publication at a small liberal arts college, we surveyed the Wesleyan student body in order to determine the Unofficial™ Collective™ Favorite™ album of the year. We have some expected picks, some upsets, and other things you can normally anticipate when you reduce musical enjoyment to numbers. For science.
A Word on the Data
This list is based on 91 student responses, which we collected from a poll that we shared on our social media and across campus. On the poll, we assembled a list of 100 popular albums for students to vote from, where they could rank the albums from #1 to #10. Each ranking is associated with a point score, with #1 valued at 10 points, #2 at 9 points, incrementally going down to #10 at 1 point. If a particular album wasn’t on the list, students could submit it as a write-in.
This ranking is based on the score that each album received.
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100 gecs - 10,000 gecs
Amaarae - Fountain Baby
Ana Frango Elétrico - Me chama de gato que eu sou sua
André 3000 - New Blue Sun
Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
Bad Bunny - nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana
billy woods & Kenny Segal - Maps
Black Country, New Road - Live from Bush Hall
boygenius - the record
Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loveliest Time
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
Chlöe - In Pieces
Coi Leray - COI
Daniel Caesar - NEVER ENOUGH
Danny Brown - Quaranta
Destroy Lonely - If Looks Could Kill
Doja Cat - Scarlet
Dominic Fike - Sunburn
Don Toliver - Love Sick
Drake - For All The Dogs
Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist - VOIR DIRE
Everything but The Girl - Fuse
feeble little horse - Girl with Fish
Feist - Multitudes
Geese - 3D Country
Genesis Owusu - STRUGGLER
George Clanton - Ooh Rap I Ya
Gorillaz - Cracker Island
Gunna - a Gift & a Curse
Hozier - Unreal Unearth
Ice Spice - Like..? (Deluxe)
Jack Harlow - Jackman.
James Blake - Playing Robots Into Heaven
Janelle Monáe - The Age of Pleasure
Jane Remover - Census Designated
Jeff Rosenstock - HELLMODE
Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!
Jon Batiste - World Music Radio
Jordan Ward - FORWARD
JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - SCARING THE HOES
Jungle - Volcano
Kali Uchis - Red Moon In Venus
Kara Jackson - Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love?
KAROL G - MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO
KAYTRAMINÉ - KAYTRAMINÉ
Kelela - Raven
Ken Carson - A Great Chaos
Kesha - Gag Order
Kim Petras - Feed The Beast
King Krule - Space Heavy
KNOWER - KNOWER FOREVER
Lana Del Rey - Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
Laufey - Bewitched
Lil Uzi Vert - Pink Tape
Lil Yachty - Let’s Start Here.
Liv.e - Girl in the Half Pearl
Mac DeMarco - One Wayne G
MIKE - Burning Desire
Miley Cyrus - Endless Summer Vacation
Mitski - The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday 2
Noname - Sundial
Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS
Oneohtrix Point Never - Again
Origami Angel - The Brightest Days
Paramore - This Is Why
Paris Texas - MID AIR
PinkPantheress - Heaven knows
PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year Dying
RAYE - My 21st Century Blues
Renee Rapp - Snow Angel
Romy - Mid Air
Sampha - Lahai
Sam Smith - Gloria
Sexyy Red - Hood Hottest Princess
Slauson Malone 1 - EXCELSIOR
Slayyyter - STARFUCKER
Slowdive - everything is alive
Slow Pulp - Yard
Squid - O Monolith
Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
TAINY - DATA
Taylor Swift - 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
Taylor Swift - Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
Teezo Touchdown - How Do You Sleep At Night?
The Japanese House - In The End It Always Does
Tinashe - BB/ANG3L
Tkay Maidza - Sweet Justice
Travis Scott - UTOPIA
Troye Sivan - Something To Give Each Other
underscores - Wallsocket
Various Artists - Barbie The Album
Victoria Monét - JAGUAR II
Wednesday - Rat Saw God
yeule - softscars
Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World
Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy
Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)
Zach Bryan - Zach Bryan
20. PinkPantheress - Heaven knows
Score: 53
Votes: 11
19. Travis Scott - UTOPIA
Score: 60
Votes: 10
18. Various Artists - Barbie The Album
Score: 60
Votes: 12
17. Reneé Rapp - Snow Angel
Score: 69
Votes: 11
16. Troye Sivan - Something To Give Each Other
Score: 73
Votes: 14
15. Taylor Swift - Speak Now (Taylor's Version)
Score: 74
Votes: 12
14. Taylor Swift - 1989 (Taylor's Version)
Score: 78
Votes: 12
13. Laufey - Bewitched
Score: 80
Votes: 12
12. Paramore - This Is Why
Score: 87
Votes: 16
11. 100 gecs - 10,000 gecs
Score: 91
Votes: 12
10. Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
Score: 91
Votes: 14
9. Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
Score: 92
Votes: 12
8. Lil Yachty - Let’s Start Here.
Score: 97
Votes: 15
7. JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - SCARING THE HOES
Score: 106
Votes: 14
6. Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
Score: 126
Votes: 18
5. Lana Del Rey - Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
Score: 132
Votes: 21
4. Hozier - Unreal Unearth
Score: 142
Votes: 18
3. Mitski - The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Score: 154
Votes: 21
2. boygenius - the record
Score: 161
Votes: 21
1. Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS
Score: 180
Votes: 25
Fun Stats
GUTS got both the most votes and the highest score this year! Last year Beyonce’s RENAISSANCE had the highest score, while Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers got the most votes.
Of the 46 unique write-in albums, just a single album got more than one vote: the self-titled album from Blondshell, with 2 votes.
Seven albums from our list got no votes.
boygenius — the record got six #1 rankings, the most out of any album on the list.
The highest ranking album that got no #1 votes was Taylor Swift — Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), coming in at 15th. Apparently 1989 gobbled them all up.
Barbie The Album got Kenough votes to be the first V/A album on any of these yearly lists.
Data crunched by Nathan Hausspiegel ‘24, who took a data visualization class this past semester. See the non-academic fruits of his labor below.
Questions and complaints: nhausspiegel@wesleyan.edu / IG @nathan.hauss
